Posted on 08/04/2013 3:25:36 PM PDT by LurkedLongEnough
The Newtown Middle School student won $2,000 as the runner-up.
A Connecticut eighth-grader who misspelled the correct answer to a "Jeopardy!" question and lost money over it says he was cheated.
Thomas Hurley III correctly answered the Final Jeopardy question about the Emancipation Proclamation signed by President Abraham Lincoln. But Thomas spelled it "emanciptation" and was ruled out by host Alex Trebek.
He bet $3,000 of his $9,600 in winnings and finished well behind a rival who amassed $66,600.
"I was pretty upset that I was cheated out of the final 'Jeopardy!' question," he told The News-Times of Danbury. "It was just a spelling error."
They must not have liked him. There have been many times when the answers were scrawled and barely legible and accepted as correct.
Judge’s discretion.
Its clear that your wrong, boy!
Clearly meant to join one of the many FReepers who think spelling and grammar are mere frippery.
Once thing fer shore, the boy is not dreaming to join the Grammar Police when he grows up!
Leni
He could argue that it’s the Rachel Jeantel spelling....
I haven’t watched Jeopardy in years, so I’m not sure how they handle spelling errors. If the ruling was consistent with how the show generally handles things, then the kid should just count his blessings and work on his spelling. If this kid was the exception, however, and many similar mistakes were allowed in past episodes, then maybe he’s got a right to gripe a little.
I still remember the time a contestant couldn’t pronounce “aluminum” so after several tries she said “al-you-mineeum”, i.e. the British (I think) pronunciation. She got the money, only to find after the commercial break (well, we got to find out) that the judges disallowed it. The question was in reference to an American company, and therefore a British pronunciation of the word was unacceptable. Seemed awfully Barney Fife-ish to me, expecially given the contestant tried to pronounce it the “proper” way several times first.
The CT News Station haven’t reported this yet in their Newton coverage. I think the poor kid was only on the show was because he was from NEWTOWN!
It immediately struck me that he should complain.
He doesn't have enough skin pigmentation to let the spelling slide and he had better get used to that fact.
That’s right....this is new school spelling. Alex Trebek is old school.
“I think that’s spelled “loose”, at least here on Free Republic (ducks)!”
As in the following sentence:
He’s a sore looser who can’t tell when his shoelaces are lose.
He’s putting the “Conn” in Connecticut.
I’m not looking forward to the Newton one year later and Sanford one year later coverages coming up.
As Mrs. Slick Willy would say “At this point in time, what difference does it make?”.
True. I remember one incident where the final Jeopardy answer was "Clint Eastwood." One of the contestants wrote down "Who is Clint E.?" - and they gave it to her!
Just once I'd like to see someone leap over the podium and smack the ___ of of Alex Trebek!
I think they do allow for spelling errors if the spelling doesn’t alter the pronunciation of the word.
Indeed.
A smarmy Frenchy Canuck who looks down his nose at normal Americans.
Many of the questions are biased towards Canada and that Qubequois subset of pompous Francophone A-holes that Alex obviously hails from.
Glad he's leaving. Hope he drowns in a Jeroboam of Night Train.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvUZijEuNDQ
From the article’s title, I was expecting something else. When people fill out the Nielsen TV ratings diaries for sweeps weeks, one of the most commonly misspelled show titles is “Jeapordy,” followed closely by “Orpah.”
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